“reform movements in the united states sought to expand democratic ideals.” assess (evaluate,...
TRANSCRIPT
“Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals.” Assess (evaluate, judge or appraise) the validity (strength or soundness) of this statement with
specific reference to the years 1825 to 1850.
The Second Great Awakening:
The Inspiration for Reform
A New Religious Movement
In the 19th century, there was a great religious revival happening in America.
Protestant churches were moving away from the old
Puritan beliefs that one’s life was predestined by God.
Second Great Awakening
• By definition, it was a great religious revival that urged people to reform their own lives. It taught that anyone could be saved which was the opposite of what the Puritans had preached.
Predestination is the idea that God decided in advance which people would
be saved in heaven. Belief in predestination led many to think that
society could not be changed, because everything in life was already pre-determined by God. In fact, many people felt it was a sin to want to
improve the world, as that would be going against God’s will.
In the 1820s and 1830s, a spirited religious movement swept the nation. Preachers began to travel from town to town, holding huge outdoor meetings
called revivals. The goal of these revivals was to stir religious feelings in
the people. Revivals often lasted for days and attracted thousands of people. The revivals succeeded in fueling people’s
emotions.
Revivalist leaders stressed a new idea: Free
will was now more important than
predestination. The most successful leader of
the revivalists of the Second Great Awakening
was a man named Charles Grandison
Finney.
What is Free Will?
• Free will is defined as the power or ability to act at one’s own discretion
Finney was a Presbyterian minister and a powerful, inspirational speaker. He not
only inspired those who heard him preach, but also other preachers, who spread his
message across the country. It was Finney that introduced the idea that
individual salvation was the first step toward improving society.
Charles Finney and the Conversion Experience
• New form of revival– Meeting night after night to build excitement– Speaking bluntly– Praying for sinners by name– Encouraging women to testify in public– Placing those struggling with conversion on the
“anxious bench” at the front of the church
• Finney also spoke of the good that Christians could do to transform society. He was quite ambitious in his hope. He told his followers that their goal was, “the complete reformation of the whole world.”
Second Great Awakening • As a result of the Second Great Awakening (a series
of revivals in the 1790s-early 1800s), the dominant form of Christianity in America became evangelical Protestantism
– Membership in the major Protestant churches—Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist—soared
– By 1840 an estimated half of the adult population was connected to some church, with the Methodists emerging as the largest denomination in both the North and the South
Mini Question
• How did the Second Great Awakening affect Americans?
• They must do good things to prove their faith.• Church memberships grew dramatically.
Revivalism and the Social OrderRevivalism and the Social Order• Society during the Jacksonian era was undergoing
deep and rapid change
– The revolution in markets brought both economic expansion and periodic depressions.
• To combat this uncertainty reformers sought stability and order in religion
– Religion provided a means of social control in a disordered society
– Churchgoers embraced the values of hard work, punctuality, and sobriety
– Revivals brought unity and strength and a sense of peace
Other Churches FoundedOther Churches Founded• While the Protestant revivals sought to
reform individual sinners, others sought to remake society at large
• Mormons – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• Founded by Joseph Smith in western NY
•In 1827, Smith announced that he had discovered a set of golden tablets on which was written the Book of Mormon •Proclaiming that he had a commission from God to reestablish the true church, Smith gathered a group of devoted followers
MormonsMormonsMormonsMormons
• Brigham Young, Smith’s successor, led the Mormons westward
in 1846-1847 to Utah where they could live and worship without
interference
Mormons proved to be of major importance Mormons proved to be of major importance in westward migration as a place where thosein westward migration as a place where those heading further west could stock up on supplies.heading further west could stock up on supplies.
Cults
• The Shakers– Ann Lee – 1774 – The Shakers used dancing as a worship practice– Shakers practiced celibacy, separating the sexes as far
as practical – Shakers worked hard, lived simply (built furniture),
and impressed outsiders with their cleanliness and order
– Lacking any natural increase, membership began to decline after 1850, from a peak of about 6000 members
Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784)
If you will take up your crosses against the works of generations, and follow Christ in the
regeneration, God will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Remember the cries of those who are in need and trouble, that when you are in trouble, God may
hear your cries.
If you improve in one talent, God will give you more.
The Shakers
Shaker Hymn
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free,'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gainedTo bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,To turn, turn will be our delight,'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Shaker Meeting
Utopian CommunitiesUtopian Communities
• The Oneida Community
• Brook Farm
• New Harmony
• Transcendentalists
“The Pursuit of Perfection”
In Antebellum
America1820 to 1860
“The Pursuit of Perfection”
In Antebellum
America1820 to 1860
The Second Great Awakening
“Spiritual Reform From Within”[Religious Revivalism]
Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality
Temperance
Asylum &Penal Reform
Education
Women’s Rights
Abolitionism
In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States.
-- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832
In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States.
-- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832
The Rise of Popular Religion
Purifying the Nation
•Age of Reform 1820 to 1860
•Ante-Bellum or before the Civil War
•Romantic Age
•2nd Great Awakening
•Reformers pointed out the inequality in society stating the DOI as the basis of their argument…
•Rise of Unitarians who believed a God of love instead of the Puritan concept of an angry God.
•Unitarians believed one could show the love of God by helping others….
•Developed a “social conscience” for improving the quality of life in society
•Reformers questioned the value of material progress in an age of industrialization if it were not accompanied by progress in solving the important human problems•Primarily a Northern movement•Southerners resisted reform movements because it feared abolition of slavery
•Reformers sought to purify the nation by removing sins of slavery, intemperance (alcohol), male domination and war…..•Some removed themselves from society and tried to create Utopian societies based on collective ownership (socialism/communism)•Reformers used education, lyceum meetings, newspapers in inform public of their issues…..
1. Ante-Belleum—1820 to 1860• Romantic age
• Reformers pointed the inequality in society• Industrialization vs. progress in human rights• Primarily a Northern movement
• Southerner’s refused reforms to protect slavery.
• Educated society through • newspaper and lyceum meetings• Areas to reform:
• Slavery women’s rights• Industrialization public school• Male domination temperance
(alcohol)• War prison reform
2. 2nd Great Awakening---1820’s to 1840’s•religious revival vs. deists
•Rise of Unitarians---believed in a God of love •Denied the trinity •heaven through good works and helping others.•Social conscience = social gospel
•apply Christ’s teachings to bettering society
•Contrasted with salvation by grace and getting to heaven through Christ.
• Baptists, Methodists, etc.
3. Formed utopian societies = collective ownership.
Temperance Movement
Temperance Movement
• The most significant reform movements of the period sought not to withdraw from society but to change it directly
• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking– Led largely by clergy, the movement at
first focused on drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking
– In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded, taking voluntary abstinence as its goal.
• The most significant reform movements of the period sought not to withdraw from society but to change it directly
• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking– Led largely by clergy, the movement at
first focused on drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking
– In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded, taking voluntary abstinence as its goal.
•Anti-Alcohol movement•American Temperance Society formed at Boston-----1826
• sign pledges, pamphlets, anti-alcohol tract10 nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There10 nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There
•Demon Drink adopt 2 major line attack•stressed temperance and individual will to resist
•Lyman Beecher
•Neal Dow
•Lucretia Mott
The Temperance Movement
The Temperance Movement
• During the next decade
approximately 5000 local
temperance societies were
founded
• As the movement gained
momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped
sharply
• During the next decade
approximately 5000 local
temperance societies were
founded
• As the movement gained
momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped
sharply
From the first glass to the grave, 1846
From the first glass to the grave, 1846
The Drunkard’s Progress
Middle-class reformers called for tax-supported education, arguing to business leaders that the new economic order needed
educated workers
Middle-class reformers called for tax-supported education, arguing to business leaders that the new economic order needed
educated workers
Educational Reform Educational Reform In 1800 Massachusetts
was the only state requiring free public schools supported by
community funds
Under Horace Mann’s leadership in the 1830s, Massachusetts created a state board of education and adopted a minimum-length school year.
Under Horace Mann’s leadership in the 1830s, Massachusetts created a state board of education and adopted a minimum-length school year.
Educational Reform Educational Reform
Provided for training of teachers, and expanded the curriculum to include subjects such as history and geography
Provided for training of teachers, and expanded the curriculum to include subjects such as history and geography
By the 1850s the number of schools, attendance figures, and school budgets had all increased
sharply School reformers enjoyed their greatest success
in the Northeast and the least in the SouthSouthern planters opposed paying taxes to
educate poorer white childrenEducational opportunities for women also
expandedIn 1833 Oberlin College in Ohio became the
first coeducational college.Four years later the first all-female college was
founded — Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts
By the 1850s the number of schools, attendance figures, and school budgets had all increased
sharply School reformers enjoyed their greatest success
in the Northeast and the least in the SouthSouthern planters opposed paying taxes to
educate poorer white childrenEducational opportunities for women also
expandedIn 1833 Oberlin College in Ohio became the
first coeducational college.Four years later the first all-female college was
founded — Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts
Educational Reform Educational Reform
Women Educators Troy, NY Female Seminary curriculum: math, physics, history, geography. train female teachers
Emma Willard(1787-1870)
Mary Lyons(1797-1849)
1837 --> she established Mt. Holyoke [So. Hadley, MA] as the first college for women.
The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,
hospitals)
The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,
hospitals)
• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society
• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in
asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character
• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society
• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in
asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character
The Asylum Movement
The Asylum Movement
• Dorothea DixDorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, took the lead in advocating state supported asylums for the mentally ill
• She attracted much attention to the movement by her report detailing the horrors to which the mentally ill were subjected – being chained, kept in cages and closets, and
beaten with rods• In response to her efforts, 28 states
maintained mental institutions by 1860
• Dorothea DixDorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, took the lead in advocating state supported asylums for the mentally ill
• She attracted much attention to the movement by her report detailing the horrors to which the mentally ill were subjected – being chained, kept in cages and closets, and
beaten with rods• In response to her efforts, 28 states
maintained mental institutions by 1860
Abolitionist Movement 1816 --> American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation.
British Colonization Society symbol
Abolitionist Movement
Create a free slave state in Liberia, West Africa.
No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s.
Gradualists Immediatists
AbolitionismAbolitionism• William Lloyd Garrison,
publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual
emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery at once
– He advocated racial equality and argued that slaveholders should not be compensated for freeing slaves.
• William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual
emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery at once
– He advocated racial equality and argued that slaveholders should not be compensated for freeing slaves.
The LiberatorThe Liberator
Premiere issue January 1, 1831Premiere issue January 1, 1831
AbolitionismAbolitionism• Free blacks, such as Frederick
Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement
• To abolitionists, slavery was a moral, not an economic question
• But most of all, abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching
• 1845 --> The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass
• 1847 --> “The North Star” – an abolitionis publication
• Free blacks, such as Frederick Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement
• To abolitionists, slavery was a moral, not an economic question
• But most of all, abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching
• 1845 --> The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass
• 1847 --> “The North Star” – an abolitionis publication
Anti-Slavery AlphabetAnti-Slavery Alphabet
The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!
Black Abolitionists
David Walker(1785-1830)
1829 --> Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.
Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)
or Isabella Baumfree
1850 --> The Narrative of Sojourner Truth R2-10
Harriett Tubman(1820-1913)
Helped over 300 slaves Helped over 300 slaves to freedom.to freedom. $40,000 bounty on her $40,000 bounty on her head.head. Served as a Union spy Served as a Union spy during the Civil War.during the Civil War.
ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENTS
• Underground
• Railroad
Underground RailroadJohn Parker House – Ripley, OH
Underground RailroadJohn Rankin House – Ripley, OH
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Antislavery Movements
ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENTS
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriett Beecher StoweHarriett Beecher Stowe
The Underground Railroad “Conductor” ==== leader of the
escape
“Passengers” ==== escaping slaves
“Tracks” ==== routes
“Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves
“Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep
Growth of slavery
Growth of slavery
•Gag ruleGag rule was passed in Congress
which nothing concerning slavery could be discussed.
•Under the gag rulegag rule, anti-slavery anti-slavery
petitionspetitions were not read on the floor of
Congress
•The rule was renewed in each
Congress between 1837 and 1839.
•In 1840 the House passed an even
stricter rule, which which refused to accept all refused to accept all anti-slavery petition.anti-slavery petition.
On December 3, 1844, the gag rule
was repealed
•Gag ruleGag rule was passed in Congress
which nothing concerning slavery could be discussed.
•Under the gag rulegag rule, anti-slavery anti-slavery
petitionspetitions were not read on the floor of
Congress
•The rule was renewed in each
Congress between 1837 and 1839.
•In 1840 the House passed an even
stricter rule, which which refused to accept all refused to accept all anti-slavery petition.anti-slavery petition.
On December 3, 1844, the gag rule
was repealed
Abolitionism: Division and Opposition
Abolitionism: Division and OppositionAbolitionism forced the churches to
face the question of slavery head-on, and in the 1840s the Methodist and Baptist churches each split into northern and
southern organizations over the issue of slavery
Even the abolitionists themselves splintered
More conservative reformers wanted to work within established institutions, using churches and political action to
end slavery
Abolitionism forced the churches to face the question of slavery head-on, and in the 1840s the Methodist and Baptist churches each split into northern and
southern organizations over the issue of slavery
Even the abolitionists themselves splintered
More conservative reformers wanted to work within established institutions, using churches and political action to
end slavery
The“Virtuous
Republic” ormoral
excellence
The“Virtuous
Republic” ormoral
excellence
Classical view of
a model republic
Classical view of
a model republic
“City on a hill”
[John W
inthrop]
“City on a hill”
[John W
inthrop]Ideal citizen
[Cincinnatus]
Ideal citizen
[Cincinnatus]
1. Govt. gets its authority from the citizens.
2. A selfless, educated citizenry.
3. Elections should be frequent.
4. Govt. should guarantee individual rights & freedoms.
5. Govt.’s power should be limited [checks & balances].
6. The need for a written Constitution.
7. “E Pluribus Unum.” [“Out of many, one”]
8.8. An important role for An important role for women women raise good, raise good, virtuous citizens.virtuous citizens.[“Republican [“Republican Womanhood”].Womanhood”].
Enlightenment
Thinking
Enlightenment
Thinking
Roman statesman regarded as a model of simple virtue; he twice was
called to assume dictatorship of Rome and each time retired to his
farm (519-438 BC)
Early 19c WomenEarly 19c Women1.Unable to vote.2.Legal status of a minor.3.Single --> could own her own
property.4.Married --> no control over
herproperty or her children.
5.Could not initiate divorce.6.Couldn’t make wills, sign a
contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.
1.Unable to vote.2.Legal status of a minor.3.Single --> could own her own
property.4.Married --> no control over
herproperty or her children.
5.Could not initiate divorce.6.Couldn’t make wills, sign a
contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.
“Separate Spheres” Concept
“Separate Spheres” Concept
Republican Motherhood evolved into the “Cult of
Domesticity”
Republican Motherhood evolved into the “Cult of
Domesticity” A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a refuge from the cruel world outside). Her role was to “civilize” her husband and family. An 1830s MA minister:
The power of woman is her dependence. A woman who gives up that dependence on
man to become a reformer yields the power God has given her for her protection, and
her character becomes unnatural!
Cult of Domesticity = Slavery
The 2nd Great Awakening inspired women to improve society.
Angelina Grimké Sarah Grimké
Southern Abolitionists
Lucy Stone American Women’s Suffrage Assoc. edited Woman’s Journal
R2-9
When abolitionists divided over the issue of female participation, women found it easy to identify with the situation of the
slaves 1848: Feminist reform led to Seneca Falls
ConventionSignificance: launched modern women’s
rights movement
Established the arguments and the program for the women’s rights movement
for the remainder of the century
When abolitionists divided over the issue of female participation, women found it easy to identify with the situation of the
slaves 1848: Feminist reform led to Seneca Falls
ConventionSignificance: launched modern women’s
rights movement
Established the arguments and the program for the women’s rights movement
for the remainder of the century
Women’s Rights MovementWomen’s Rights Movement
What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own Way!
What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own Way!
Women’s Rights1840 --> split in the abolitionist movement over women’s role in it.
London --> World Anti-Slavery Convention
Lucretia Mott Elizabeth Cady Stanton
1848 --> Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments
The first Woman’s rights movement was in Seneca Falls,
New York in 1849……•Educational and professional opportunities•Property rights•Legal equality•repeal of laws awarding the father custody of the children in divorce.•Suffrage rights
The first Woman’s rights movement was in Seneca Falls,
New York in 1849……•Educational and professional opportunities•Property rights•Legal equality•repeal of laws awarding the father custody of the children in divorce.•Suffrage rights
•The following is an excerpt from the Seneca Falls
Declaration written by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
•Notice that the language and
wording is similar to the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed……
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be
submitted to a candid world….•He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.•He has taken from all right in property, even to the wages she earns.
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be
submitted to a candid world….•He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.•He has taken from all right in property, even to the wages she earns.
He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can
commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence
of her husband.In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all
intents and purposes, her master; the law giving him power to deprive her
of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.
He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can
commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence
of her husband.In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all
intents and purposes, her master; the law giving him power to deprive her
of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.
Seneca Falls Declaration
Susan B. Anthony on Susan B. Anthony on Marriage and SlaveryMarriage and Slavery
“The married women and their legal status. What is servitude? “The condition of a slave.”
What is a slave? “A person who is robbed of the proceeds of his labor; a person who is
subject to the will of another…” I submit the deprivation by law of ownership of
one’s own person, wages, property, children, the denial of right as an individual, to sue and be sued, to vote, and to testify in the courts, is a condition of servitude most bitter and absolute,
though under the sacred name of marriage.
The Rise of African The Rise of African American ChurchesAmerican ChurchesThe Rise of African The Rise of African American ChurchesAmerican Churches
• Revivalism also spread to the
African American community
• The Second Great Awakening has been called the
"central and defining event in the development
of Afro-Christianity“
• During these revivals Baptists and Methodists converted large numbers of blacks
The Rise of African The Rise of African American ChurchesAmerican ChurchesThe Rise of African The Rise of African American ChurchesAmerican Churches
• This led to the formation of all-black Methodist
and Baptist churches, primarily
in the North
• African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.)
had over 17,000 members by 1846
Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers
Concord, MA
Ralph WaldoEmerson
Ralph WaldoEmerson
Henry DavidThoreau
Henry DavidThoreau
Nature(1832) Walden
(1854)
Resistance to Civil
Disobedience(1849)
Self-Reliance (1841)
“The American Scholar”
(1837)